Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 7:56 am Post subject: What type of training is needed to teach English in Itay?

Hello and thanks for reading my post.
I'm an Australian citizen but my partner and son are Italian, I'm here on a five year family visa and we may be here permanently. We live in Alto Adige near Bolzano, I'd like to start teaching English because from talking to locals there is quite a need for private lessons and perhaps teaching in schools. I have a Bachelor of Science from Australia but no formal experience in teaching.
I would like to do a training course that will enable me to teach well! I have a young baby so an online course would suit me. I've had a look at English International and the TEFL Institute's online courses, both have 100 hours teaching and then practial components. Any ideas for which is a good online course that would be accepted by Italian schools? Also if anyone has experience as an English teacher around this area I would love to hear your advice or experiences.

Different types of organisations might want different qualifications / experience levels. If you want to work in a language school (perhaps one that offers corporate training) then many DOS will ask for at least a CELTA / Trinity and relevant experience. As far as I know, you can't do either of these online, but check. If it's a smaller, private language school that caters to mainly secondary school students, then the requirements may be less stringent and you might be able to get away with an online qualification. Try 1-1 which is a good example of a taster course to see how you get on.

If you want to work in state schools, then this is a whole other ballgame. I'd say some sort of classroom experience is going to be key - so you might want to think about this after you've had other, less challenging teaching environments.

Perhaps a good course of action is to find out from schools in your area what they want and are looking for. Nothing is cast in stone in Italy (as I'm sure you're finding out!) and it may be that you have other skills / experience that someone is looking for at the moment.

To be honest Bella, the "nothing is cast in stone in Italy " advice is probably your best guide. A Yes, a CELTA or Trinity CTEFL are the gold standard, in Italy as elsewhere, but, even more so perhaps than in other countries, personal connections, luck, conicidence and local needs and conditions trump all else.

Many smaller, and some larger, language schools or chains will give more importance to your personality or to any local references or connections that you m,ay have. or be prepared to develop, than to the name on the head of your certification. And many State (and private) middle and secondary schools hire EFL teachers from local language schools. Such work can give you classroom experience.

I would always recommend prospective teachers to do a 1 month fulltime face-to-face course with 20+ hours of clasroom practice, if they can. If that is impossible, practically or financially, then do the best course that you can afford. Classroom experiance can be gained by shadowing and then co-teaching at your local private language school. The school will love the idea of getting a teacher for free. The t6eacher will (hopefully) appreciate the idea of gaining (CV-usable) experience as a teacher trainer and letting a new, enthusiastic teacher plan and teach a couple of lessons fopr them. and you get (guided) experience.

Most of all, be brave, think outside the box, make connections as though your life depends upon it, and concentrate on all you have to offer top schools and students. This is far more important than the name on the head of your TEFL certificate. Especially in Italy.